- BLACK GUARD-DISCRIMINATION
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Court documents say a black New Mexico corrections officer faced constant harassment and was eventually fired after he called in sick and was later spotted at a high school basketball game. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque earlier this month alleged Eric Bland and another black corrections officer suffered "petty harassment." The harassment allegedly followed the appointment of a new supervisor at the Lea County Detention Center in August 2018. Lea County Manager Mike Gallagher says the county does not, has not and will not engage in racial discrimination.
- SANTA FE-MURAL
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico homeowner has been ordered to remove pro-Palestinian murals from an adobe wall outside his Santa Fe home. The Santa Fe Historic Districts Review Board affirmed Tuesday a decision by the city of Santa Fe that required Guthrie Miller to paint over the mural. The artwork depicts armed Israeli soldiers threatening Palestinian children at gunpoint. Jewish leaders had called the mural anti-Semitic. Miller, a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory employee, has allowed other pro-Palestinian artwork to be displayed on his property in the past. He says a Navajo artist created the artwork. The order comes after the same board voted on a plan to destroy a Chicano mural to make way for the new museum.
- GIRL SCOUTS-LATHAM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former New Mexico Tourism Secretary Rebecca Latham has been named CEO of Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails. The group said this week that Latham succeeds longtime CEO Peggy Sanchez Mills, who retired in January. Latham, a Brownie Troop Leader, will leave her role as CEO of American Mothers, Inc. at the end of February. With offices in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Aztec and Clovis, Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails serves around 6,000 girls and adults across Central and Northern New Mexico. The council serves 23 counties.
- HUMAN TRAFFICKING CONVICTION
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A federal jury in New Mexico has convicted an Arizona man on a human smuggling charge. Prosecutors say 39-year-old Francisco Armando Martinez of Tucson was found guilty Tuesday on one count of transporting immigrants who were in the country illegally. Martinez faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced. The evidence at trial showed a group of immigrants from Mexico paid smugglers to help them illegally cross the border into the United States. A guide led them into the United States through the desert on foot. Martinez picked up the immigrants on the side of the road to transport them.
- WILDFIRES-FOREST RESTORATION
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The head of the U.S. Forest Service says her agency is working with partners to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire, but acknowledged that a budget proposal for the next fiscal year reflects "tough choices and trade-offs." Some senators are concerned about zeroing out forest restoration program funding that has helped finance projects covering thousands of acres in over a dozen states. Hotter and drier conditions across the West are making wildfires more intense and destructive as they burn through overgrown forests, with California among the hardest hit. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico says a bipartisan contingent of lawmakers want as much funding restored as possible in the face of a changing climate.
- ALBUQUERQUE SCHOOLS-SUPERINTENDENT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Albuquerque Public Schools board of education said Wednesday that 39 people have applied to be superintendent. Officials will be dwindling down the list in the coming month. The applicants include former educators from Newark, California, and a former superintendent in a Long Island, New York, school district. Albuquerque Public Schools board president David Peercy said the district is looking to hire a leader who will understand the unique needs of a diverse school district in one of the nation's poorest states. District officials said they hope to have a new superintendent by July to replace Raquel Reedy, who is retiring.
- TROUBLED NEW MEXICO PRISONS
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An inmate's suspected suicide recently in a New Mexico prison occurred as two new lawsuits accuse the state Corrections Department of negligence in inmate deaths at another penitentiary. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports one federal lawsuit filed this month says the department ordered medical personnel to remove 39-year-old Efrain Perez Martinez from life support in early 2019 over the protests of family members. Another federal lawsuit accuses Corrections Department officials of failing to provide heart medication to an inmate with a known heart condition. He later died. Corrections spokesman Eric Harrison confirmed 29-year-old Justin Guilez was found dead in his cell Wednesday "in what was an apparent suicide."
- CHILD ABUSE-KILLING PETS
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico woman facing charges she beat and tortured her children and forced them to watch her kill their pets has been found competent to stand trial. The Farmington Daily Times reports state District Court Judge Curtis Gurley recently found Martha Crouch competent to stand trial and ordered her case remanded to a magistrate court for further action. The 54-year-old Crouch was arrested in June after a daughter told authorities stories of physical and emotional abuse. She said her mother boiled puppies and poisoned a kitten as punishment. Eric Morrow, Crouch's attorney, described the extreme cruelty to animals charge as outrageous.